November 02, 2006	Thursday	Shawwal 9, 1427

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HYDERABAD, Nov 1: The sugar mill owners of the province once again defied the writ of the government by refusing to start the crushing season on November 1. The office-bearers of Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) had in their recent meeting with the federal government agreed to start the crushing season with effect from November 1 but according to reports none of the 32 functional sugar mills of the province started crushing on the agreed date.

Sindh government had earlier directed the sugar mills to start crushing from October 1 but they defied the orders and approached the federal government.

Sources in the know of the meeting said that after obtaining several concessions from the federal government the mill owners promised to start the crushing season by November 1.

The concessions included fixation of minimum price of sugar at Rs34 per kg, levy of heavy import duty on sugar and rescheduling of bank loans, the sources said.

They said that the mill owners also succeeded in extracting a promise from the federal government that the sugar stock lying with the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) would be given to the utility stores instead of selling it in the open market.

When contacted on phone Sindh Cane Commissioner Nazar Mohammad Baloch confirmed that no sugar mill started crushing on November 1. He, however, said that some sugar mills had ignited their boilers.

But the sources contradicted his claim saying that hardly any mill had ignited the boilers because the process preceded the issuance of indents and no indents had so far been issued.

The convenor of Sindh Growers Association, Ghulam Nabi Morai, sounded angry when contacted on phone and said that no boilers had been lit and no indents had been issued. Like always, the cane growers were being exploited by the mill owners, he said.

The sources said that the delay was intentional because with the passage of time the sugar cane would lose its weight but increase the quantity of sucrose. The mill owners were trying to fill their own coffers at the cost of cane growers, they said.

BADIN: The representatives of the growers associations of Badin warned on Wednesday that cane growers would take to the streets if sugar mills did not start the crushing season and continued blackmailing them and the government.

Talking to reporters, Syed Zafar Ali Shah (Chamber of Agriculture), Abdul Jabbar Gopang (Laar Abadgar Association), Syed Mohammad Ali Shah (Sindh Abadgar Board) and Advocate Mohammad Hassan Dal said that the mill owners’ claim that they had lighted the boilers was absolutely false.

They wondered why the government had not arrested the mill owners for continued violation of sugarcane act and blackmailing the growers as well as the government.

They charged that the delay was aimed at purchasing sugarcane at a throwaway price and getting maximum recovery of sucrose from the sugarcane. In December, the sucrose would rise to three percent or more, they said.

They said that the unnecessary delay would lead to delay in sowing wheat and other cereals, damage rotational crops and inflict acute financial losses on the growers.

When this correspondent contacted the mill owners they charged that the cane growers were themselves responsible for the delay. They were not sending their crop to them, they alleged.

The general manager of Pangrio Sugar Mills, Brig (retd) Farman said that the mill’s test trial was going on, purchasing sectors were open and working staff had been recalled but the mill had not received even a single truckload of sugarcane.

When he was asked whether the indents were issued he answered in negative.

An official at the Army sugar mills Badin informed that the general manager had gone to Islamabad to discuss whether the mill was to be started. No responsible official was available for comment.

None of the other mills responded to calls or made any comment when contacted on phone.

NAWABSHAH: None of the three sugar mills of Nawabshah, Habib Sugar Mills, Sakrand Sugar Mills and Al-Noor Sugar Mills of Shahpur Jehanian started crushing on Wednesday.

The sugar mills had already lighted the boilers but so far they had not issued any indents to the growers.

An official of a sugar mill requesting anonymity informed that the mill was ready for crushing and would issue indents in two to three days.

A grower, Syed Ali Mohammad Shah, said that the delay in the start of crushing season would reduce the cane’s weight by each day but increase the quantity of sucrose. Despite starting the boilers, no grower had received any indent, he added.

SANGHAR: The Sanghar Sugar Mills announced on Wednesday that had issued indents to the farmers and would start crushing from Friday, said a press release.

But up till Wednesday no farmer had received any indent while the mills had ignited the boilers some two weeks ago.